Forgiven
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: Luna always seemed so strong that he often forgot she wasn't. He forgot she was fragile. Draco/Luna. Oneshot.


**Quidditch League Round 2 – Appleby Arrows Chaser 3**

**Team character and action: Draco sleeping**

**Prompts: Bring Me Down by Miranda Lambert; creature; 100,000 Pennies (Sheldon Allan Silverstein)**

**Forgiven**

Silvery grey eyes stared at him, deep hurt evident in their depths as they tried to build a strong facade to hide their weakness behind. There was so much pain. He almost wished he could retract the words he had so harshly thrown at her, and retrieve them from where they hung heavily in the air between them. _He_ knew that he did not mean what he had said and had only been angry, but Luna, his kind and gentle Luna, didn't. She had never managed to stop all the taunts and cruel teasing during her years at Hogwarts from lodging themselves deep into her mind, carving themselves into everything they found there. He should have realized the effect his words would have on her. He remembered all those late nights he had spent simply calming the crying Luna after yet another round of merciless teasing.

Luna always seemed so strong that he often forgot she wasn't. He forgot she was fragile.

"Luna-"

"No," she choked out as she turned away slightly, hiding her tears from him as she made another attempt to bring up her mask of childish ignorance. He was torn between wanting to comfort her and stepping away, knowing that was what Luna would want right now. His indecision rooted him to the spot.

Suddenly, Luna turned and fled, seeing him evidently too much for her. He felt her leaving the wards moments after. He did not know where she had gone nor when she would return, if she would ever return.

He sighed as he looked at the spot where Luna had stood only moments prior, wondering at what had caused him to call her shallow, and all the other things he had unthinkingly called her. Luna was anything but shallow. Luna noticed more about the people she met than most Slytherins did. She was able to understand people and situations faster than anyone he knew. The only thing she was never able to see through where the words aimed to cleave into her heart and mind, wounding her in places that she did not know how to heal herself.

He _knew_ how close Luna and Potter were since their Hogwarts days. Harry had helped Luna before he had and they had formed a strong friendship since then, one that Draco was, admittedly, jealous of. He knew that the two were like siblings and he had no competition for Luna's feelings from Potter. He knew that the jealousy he had felt from that had been part of the reason he had spoken to Luna as he had. It was a jealousy he had though he had long forgotten, but had been slowly preying on his conscious.

He trudged his way up the stairs feeling drained in a way he had never felt before. The manor was suddenly too empty, each corridor far too long and each echoing footstep far too lonely. The library felt as if it would drown him within his own collection of books. His bedroom was suddenly too empty and his bed far too big as he tried to go to sleep several hours later. It wasn't too long before the sky began lightening, his room following suit. His mind was the only thing that was still lost in the darkness of the previous night as the sun was fully settling into the sky. Several days passed in exactly the same monotonous manner as he tried to find some kind of life within the grey manor he had spent most of his life living in.

Somewhere through his jumble of thoughts, he realized that he needed find Luna as a start, and talk to her if possible. He could definitely do the first. There weren't many places Luna would go anyway. The latter would be a lot difficult and up to Luna more than him. He could only hope Luna would be willing to listen at the very least. He knew he should not expect too much though. He had hurt her. Luna could very well never want to see him again and he would not blame her if she truly did feel that way. He certainly knew he would never want to see her had the situation been reversed, as unlikely as that would ever be.

Even knowing the place where Luna probably was, he still went to all the other possible places first. The Weasleys, the Longbottoms, even the Bones' and Abbot's _just to be certain._ He had tried to convince himself that it was because he was trying to figure out what he was going to say first but he wasn't even managing to fool himself.

He was _scared_.

He was terrified that Luna would refuse to see him or would reject him straight out. He was scared of being hurt by that beautiful creature, even though he would deserve every second of pain that rejection would bring. He was the one who had hurt her. He would deserve any punishment Luna would see fit to administer.

He knocked on the door of the little cottage where Potter lived. Luna visited often and had asked him to accompany her many times. Potter had not treated him with any hostility during his visits. Potter had always known how much he meant to Luna, _used_ to mean to Luna. He had no idea of how much he meant to Luna now. Potter could very well curse him into oblivion on sight without giving him half a chance to defend himself.

As it happened, Luna was the one that answered the door. Her eyes widening as she caught sight of him.

"H-Harry!" Luna called as she disappeared into the depths of the cottage again, only returning once Potter was in the vicinity and even then she was slightly hidden behind Potter's body. His chest tightened as he realized she was scared of him. He was the one she was supposed to trust enough to keep her safe, not the one she was afraid of.

There were so many thoughts running through his head as he looked at her, too many thoughts. None of them had any value, nor did they truly make any sense. Maybe together they would have been able to make an impact, or even make some sort of sense in the jumbled world his mind had created, but they were all small little knuts that you could barely do anything with. He needed something like a galleon, or even a sickle. _Anything._ His thoughts were heavy, weighing him down as if they were physical knuts in his robe pockets.

He could try to make some sense of his thoughts but what was the point? There were simply too many. He was overwhelmed by the words, the thoughts of apology.

He was rich in words, but he didn't seem to have possession of the ability needed to string those words together into coherency. They were fragmented. The true meaning was lost within things that didn't truly matter.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Potter's voice was a near growl.

"Please…"

"Please what?" Potter asked him harshly.

He flinched a little at the tone but he was unable to form another word as he looked pleadingly at Luna, who had been staring at him in uncertain curiosity. He knew Luna still doubted him. He was sure she didn't know what to think at him being here _willingly_. He only hoped she understood how much she meant.

"I'm- I-I didn't-I-" he tried to say as his thoughts all attempted to rush out at the same time, each drowning the other. Coherency lost, he didn't bother trying to speak again, opting to use his eyes to plead.

Potter and Luna exchanged a look. Potter had a resigned half smile on his face as he nodded. Luna hugged him quickly from behind before moving around Potter towards him. He closed his eyes as he waited for Luna to hit him or hurt him in some way.

Instead he found her gentle hands guiding him forward and into what looked like a lounge area. The room wasn't large by any standards but it was cozy and _not-empty ._ He did not see much else as his lack of sleep from the last few days finally caught up with him. Luna led him over to the loveseat as Potter disappeared into the depths of the cottage once again.

"Draco? Are you okay?" Luna asked him as he swayed once again.

"Yeah, just tired."

"You didn't sleep at all, did you?"

He shook his head sheepishly. Luna sighed before moving him so that his head was on her lap and his feet hanging off the opposite end of the loveseat. Her thin fingers began to run soothingly through his hair. He could feel his eyes get heavier with every brush of her hand.

As he was falling asleep, he realized that somehow Luna had forgiven him before he had even thought to ask for it. He wondered what how he had ever managed to find someone like Luna, but he was grateful for whatever it had cost. He would pay it again in a heartbeat if necessary.

"What am I going to do with you?" Luna muttered to herself with a half-smile once Draco had fallen asleep.


End file.
